Anheuser-Busch isn’t saying “neigh” just yet to putting its Clydesdales in the Super Bowl.
The longtime Super Bowl advertising leader will ask fans starting later Friday to vote on three possible Budweiser ads on the brand’s Facebook page. One of them includes the company’s trademark Clydesdale horses. All are by advertising agency DDB.
Earlier this week, the brewer showed off the contenders for its five minutes of Super Bowl ads. None included the horses, which were last absent from the game in 2001.
But the company said it got a 60-second cut of a new Clydesdale ad that it likes better than a half-minute one it saw previously, and now the horses just might be in again.
Keith Levy, marketing vice president for the St. Louis-based subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, said fans will have the next several days to vote. The game airs Feb. 7 on CBS.
The possible Clydesdale commercial tells the story of friendship between a young Clydesdale and a young steer.
The company regularly films more commercials than it needs for the Super Bowl and whittles them down through consumer testing, often just before the game. But this marks the first time the brewer is putting the ads up for a vote so publicly. It’s also a change for a company that is typically guarded about its Super Bowl ads.
“We’re very guided by what the consumers say and not necessarily what I think, or what the brand teams think or what the agencies think,” Levy said. “We’re selling beer to consumers so it’s very important to us to make sure we’re resonating with them.”
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More